Brian Johnson contrasts perfectionists, who ignore real-world constraints and suffer for it, with optimalists, who embrace them. You have only 24 hours and more control over your day's start and end than the middle. Start with what you can control, like a puzzle's edge pieces, and consistent daily showing-up raises both your highs and lows.
Chapters
Have you ever thought about that? Will you reach a point where you're constantly just on? No, of course not. There are no perfect human beings. You won't ever reach a state of never ending perfect bliss. The optimalist versus the perfectionist. They both have very, very high standards. But the perfectionist fails to embrace the constraints of reality. You're gonna suffer if you don't embrace those constraints. The first constraint we want to embrace is we only have 24 hours in the day. You have more control over how you start your day and how you end your day, then the middle part of your day. Have you noticed that? When you want to build a puzzle, where do you start? I actually googled this. How to build a puzzle. The first tip, find the edge pieces, line them up, and that will help you take the first steps. If you want to create an amazing masterpiece day, you would be wise to start with those parts over which you have the most control. We're never going to be exonerated from the work. We're always going to need to show up. Are you going to be up and down? Of course. But again, your high is going to be higher, your lows are going to be higher, and that feels really nice.
